MAYOR TO B'VILLE: PICK UP MY $29,000 TAB, COULD YA?

By Juan Montoya
Even as the Brownsville City Commission is set to decide Tuesday whether to encumber city residents with $13.475 million in Certificates of Obligations without asking them, Mayor Tony Martinez – who should have been in the U.S. Navy the way he lavishly spends their money – is demanding that the city pay $29,000 for a "Better Communities" workshop he hosted.

Word has it that the mayor – at the behest of Carlos Marin, his mentor and confidante – had scores of visitors flown in and housed in local swank hotels for the high-priced workshop. When the bill came in and the piper had to be paid, it is said Martinez sent the bill to Finance Director Pete Gonzales with the order to "pay it."
We are gathering more information as we acquire it and go through the lengthy information request process, but some of the details are already leaking through the sieve-like city fabric.
We never believed, or imagined, that when Martinez came into office he would set about to do and undo as he wished without the consent of the governed. But as we watch his doings, we are now thoroughly convinced that he won't hesistate to spend lavishly as long as it's not his money.
We will release the details of this latest splurge as we acquire them.
An apology to sailors, at least drunken sailors spend their own moolah.